Byron J. Barrington, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Byron J. Barrington
THE B. J. BARRINGTON FAMILY
Submitted by Flossie L. (Hall) Barrington
The Barrington Family in Valparaiso cannot lay claim to being pioneers in Porter County. Unlike those whose roots were anchored in Porter County a century or more ago, we had lived here for only fifty-two years.
Byron J. Barrington first came to Valparaiso in 1919 to attend Valparaiso University. He was born in Sisseton, Roberts County, South Dakota where his father had come to establish a law practice when the Indian reservation was opened to settlement. Byron J. came to Valparaiso to complete his preparatory work after having left high school to enlist in the army during the First World War at the age of 17 years.
During the same year, 1919, I came to Valparaiso to pursue training preparatory to a teaching career. My home was in Westville, LaPorte County, where our family lived since I was nine years old. At Valparaiso I lived in a girls dormatory called Altruria located on College Avenue. A large dining room in the basement provided meals for the girls. Boys and girls from the outside were permitted to eat there also. We were assigned tables for the term and it was at table 24 that I first met my husband to be, known as Barry at that time. We were married December 29, 1923. In the meantime he had decided on law as his profession and received his degree in 1927. He practiced law in Valparaiso for thirty-five years, having served as city attorney and also as attorney for the Department of Water Works for twenty-eight years, 1934-1962. He died April 30, 1963.
We have two sons, James Robert and John Wilson. James lives in Chesterton with his wife Dorothy and sons James R. II, and Byron John II. He served in World War II in the European Theatre and returned to get his engineering degree at Purdue University in 1949. John resides in Overland Park, Kansas with his wife Joan and three sons, John W. III, Paul Byron and Timothy Allan. John spent two years in the army after high school and now represents the Neptune Meter Company in the industrial and petroleum division.
The family home is at 355 Garfield and is noted for the large cucumber magnolia tree which stands in the front yard. It was awarded a certificate for being the largest of the specie in the State by the Department of Forestry which conducts a big tree registry. A descendant of the original owner said it was brought here after the civil war. The family has been affiliated with First Christian Church for many years and I have served in many capacities through the years. I served as president of the Columbia School P.T.A. in the early years of that organization and also on the P.T.A. Council. I am a fifty-four year member of the Rebekah Degree of which I have been District I Deputy president and Guardian of Rebekah Assembly and have held most of the offices in the local lodge. Of all the names in the directory of which many are duplicates, in the fifty odd years there has never been an other of our name in Porter County.
Mrs. Flossie L. (Hall) Barrington.
Source: American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Porter County. 1976. A Biographical History of Porter County, Indiana. Valparaiso, Indiana: American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Porter County, Inc. 180 p.
Page(s) in Source: 78-79
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook